The Forestry Commission is leading a process to develop the policy on restoring and expanding open habitats such as lowland heathland from woods and forests in England. The Forestry Commission completed a public consultation on the open habitats policy in June 2009 which received over 170 responses. A report on the consultation will be published in the summer and I expect to receive recommendations on policy options in the autumn.
The approach followed on the public forest estate will then reflect our decisions on the policy options as well as and conclusions from the study of the long-term role of the Public Forest Estate announced in November 2008.
The Forestry Commission published the results of a survey of open habitats and open habitat potential on the public forest estate in May 2009. The survey shows that the area of plantation forest that could be restored to lowland heathland as 29,433 hectares and the area of plantation forest that could be restored to blanket bog as 1,794 hectares.
The area of lowland heathland and blanket bog restored by the Forestry Commission on the public forest estate since 2005 is 672 hectares and 315 hectares respectively. We do not hold the information centrally on other public bodies. However, Natural England has entered into Environmental Stewardship agreements with landowners to restore 12,763 hectares of lowland heathland and 24,795 hectares of blanket bog.